Stargate Andromeda Episode 1: A New Beginning
by Lewis Green
Summary: The first episode of a miniseries depicting the adventure of Colonel Eli Thompson and his team. Based on Michael Crichton's, The Andromeda Strain.
1. Chapter 1

**STARGATE ANDROMEDA**

**EPISODE: 101**

**NEW BEGINNING**

**Written by, Lewis Green**

Lieutenant Colonel Eli Thompson stood in the Briefing Room of the Stargate Command. He sat in one of the leather chairs that surrounded a long, red and black table.  
"Well, well," General Landry said, stepping into the Briefing Room from the spiral stairway behind Eli. The General holds a cardboard box in his hands. "A Lieutenant Colonel now, huh? Congratulations."  
"Thank you, Sir," Eli replied, saluting in his blue blazer, now decorated with a pin only a few get to where. The General lowered his hand, and so did Thompson, not wanting to look like an idiot. "Sir, if you don't mind my asking, I was told I was to lead a team, but they never said what team, and they also never said what for. Are we talking special ops? A squadron?"  
The General laughed and set the cardboard box he was holding in his hands, on the table in the center of the room.  
"Go ahead and open it," he said as Thompson made his way over to it. Thompson looked at it and just thought what could possibly be in a box that small. It looked like a small FedEx box. "Come on, Thompson, we're not gettin' any younger!" the General protested at Eli's silence.  
"Uh... Yes, Sir." Eli opened up the box to find a smaller box on top of a tablet computer in a case. He picked up the, apparently very important, box and opened it. It contained a patch of the USAF Symbol. But, there were two more patches, one had an image of the planet Earth on it with a weird symbol lain over it, and one last patch, a circle with a chevron, the number 5 lain over. "Sir?"  
"You're team is SG-5, Colonel."  
"SG-5?"  
General Landry chuckled a little and walked to a window covered, on the outside, by a blast door. Landry grabbed a small dial beside the large window, turning it. The blast door rose and Eli slowly walked to the window, and saw a giant ring...  
Landry turned to see Eli, smiling. "SG-1 is our elite squad of explorers, our flagship team. It was originally comprised of Colonel Jonathan Jack O'Neill, Captain, at the time, Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, and an alien named Teal'C. After about eight years, Colonel O'Neill was promoted to Brigadier General, and made leader of this facility, Stargate Command, or the SGC, if you prefer. A year later, a new man was brought in to lead SG-5, Colonel Cameron Mitchell. The Colonel was brought into the SGC, a year after a skirmish with some enemy aliens in Antarctica. Over the year between the skirmish, and when the Colonel joined, he was recooperating from a crash in his plane. Then another alien named Valla Mal Doran. Later, COLONEL Samantha Carter was transferred to an offworld expedition just about half a year ago, the Atlantis Expedition. But that's just SG-1. You're here to lead SG-5"  
"So... SG-5 is a team of space explorers too?"  
"To put it in the most simplest of terms."  
"And they travel through that thing?" Thompson asked, pointing at the large ring a floor down.  
"Yes, it's called a Stargate."  
"Stargate? Did we make it?"  
"No, no, no. The Stargate is a device that creates artificial wormholes that allow you to travel through space, to thousands of worlds. They were created by a race known as the Alterans. They created a system of Stargates in our Galaxy, and the Pegasus Galaxy, as far as we know, spreading life, millions of years ago." Landry walked to the box and picked up the Tablet Computer from inside of it, and took off its case. "This is obviously a computer, but it is connected to the SGC's main database. It has mission reports, diagrams of most of the equipment we use, a portion of the database from Atlantis , and even a few sections on the Stargate itself."  
Under the tablet was a uniform. It had places for the patches Thompson was given earlier.  
"This is your SGC and offworld uniform. You will wear it under you Tac Vest and equipment during missions, and day-to-day life in the SGC."  
"Command of what Sir?"  
"I didn't promote you because I felt like it, Colonel. You're here to lead the new SG-5." Thompson looked up at the General and smiled like the General had before. The General returned the smile. They spent almost a minute doing a weird, awkward smile off, until Thompson's dropped.  
"You're kidding, right Sir?"  
"I'm dead serious, Colonel," replied Landry in a very serious tone.  
"Sir, I just got here. Do you really think it would be a good idea to put a novice like me in a position of leadership?"  
"Your file speaks for itself," the General said, "168 hours logged behind enemy lines."  
"Now that was..."  
"Was able to master the F-302's controls in a matter of days."  
"It wasn't that different from the Raptor."  
"You led several Black Op mission, all successful."  
"OK, OK, I get it... Sir," Thompson interrupted, "but do you really think that I'm capable of THIS kind of command?"  
"Has a hard time excepting promotion above other pears, even tries to bring self down to level his ego. You're file DEFINITELY didn't lie," the General replied in a slightly cheeky manner.  
Thompson sat down and just thought. He remembered all the mission's he had led all across the world. He had thought his career would take a nose-dive, get boring, especially after being called to NORAD.  
"Do you?" a voice said, breaking Eli's daydream.  
"Sorry?" Eli replied, looking up at Landry.  
"Do you except this position?" the General repeated.  
Eli tried to think faster, knowing that this was an opportunity of a life time, and without listening to any of the disagreements in his mind, he stood up.  
"Sir, I except the position as Commanding Officer of SG-5."  
"Good. Now, there's plenty of things left to be done." General Landry began to make his way towards the spiral stairs.  
"I'm almost afraid to ask, Sir." Eli said, following the General to the spiral stairway.  
Landry turned around, still smiling. "Well, Colonel, it's time to assemble your team."  
Landry left the Briefing Room with Thompson still following.  
The two walk through the Control Room, took a right, stepped down a set of concrete steps, and down the hall.

"Sir, I know I've been here for almost," Thompson cut off, looking down at his watch, "five minutes or so, and should probably know all this, but I haven't got the slightest clue of who would be qualified to be on a team for missions like these. I don't think I'm even qualified, I mean, missions across the Galaxy?!" Thompson waved his hands in front of himself, like a mobster.

"And then some. Thompson, you only need to take a look at a few files for a few hours is all," Landry replied.

"With all do respect, Sir, I just wouldn't know who to pick."

Landry turned around and looked at Thompson.

"Colonel, I'm not gonna lie to you, this isn't gonna be an easy job, you're inexperienced in interstellar travel. Hell, who is?! But the past two leaders of SG-1 started out in your exact position."

"I was just a Major until a day ago, Sir," Thompson pointed out.

Landry stopped and turned to look at Eli. "Everyone starts somewhere." General Landry studied Eli for a few seconds. "All it takes is some seasoning."

"OK, er... Yes, Sir."

The two made their way down the hallway.

Thompson sat on the bed in his new quarters. The SGC was larger than he thought, and it took him about an hour to find his quarters.

Thompson looked down at the floor, seeing five boxes of files. Each box was filled to the edges with files on SGC-Personnel and other US Air Force soldiers who maybe eligible for a spot on Eli's team.

Thompson picked up a hand full of folders and began reading. One caught his eye particularly. Eli reads the file aloud.

"Major James Redford, male, previously stationed on SG-4. Skilled in stealth operations, shows great ability to command, helped to bring down the first Ori Beachhead. Ori?" Eli reads on. "Has a problem with authority. Mm... Whatever, sounds good," Eli concluded, setting the file aside. Eli grabbed another handful of files and found yet another that caught his eye. He read that one aloud as well.

"Major Rachel Fisher, female, previously stationed on Atlantis. What the hell is Atlantis?"

Eli grabbed his Tablet computer and performed a search on Atlantis. He became quickly confused and discouraged by all the information that was given, and decided to let it be.

"Skills, aerial, ground, and space combat. Extreme knowledge in Aeronautics and Astronautics. A degree in Engineering. Fluent in one dialect of Ancient, written and spoken. Vast knowledge of the Pegasus Stargate System."

Thompson had absolutely no idea what a Pegasus Stargate System was. An inquiry for that Tablet Landry gave him, that's what it was.

Thompson picked up one last handful of files, taking one out in particular.

"Doctor Carl Rite, civilian, male. Previously stationed at the Alpha Site's R&D section. Excellent knowldege of off-world alien materials and lifeforms. Skilled in two Goa'uld dialects."

Eli thought it over, and opened the application on his Tablet of one, Doctor Daniel Jackson. Apparently, Rite had studied quite a bit with one, Daniel Jackson.

Thompson noticed that the file he had just read, was the last file he needed. He thought hard about it, and looked over the files again.

After long a long moment of thought, Eli concluded that he would much rather have a, "do whatever soldier," that can keep him from being shot with a laser or something, than a polished one that could get him killed through protocol. Thompson thought if he was making the right choice with that, but he figured that this would be a good way to go for now, he's just a candidate anyway.

As he picked up a pile the files he chose, he thought long and hard about what he was getting himself into. Eli lies down, and stares into space.

It was morning in Cheyenne Mountain, the day after Eli began his search for a team.

Eli was escorted from his quarters and to General Landry's office. Eli watches his back as he moves through the crowded halls of the SGC.

"Colonel!" called Landry from his office. The hall between Eli and Landry was very crowded, Thompson was just struggling to keep from running into someone.

After a few seconds of apologies for fallen boxes and documents, Eli made it to the General's office.

"Sir, I think I've decided on a few choice candidates for my team," Eli said, in an almost nervous voice, noticing that the President himself, and several senators were staring at him when he stepped into the General's office..

"Excellent, send them Walter's way, and he'll have them here within a few hours," the General said, noticing Thompson's nervousness.

"Mr. President," Eli saluted.

"Nice to finally meet you Colonel Thompson," he replied.

Thompson turned around and nodded to the senators.

Walter stepped into the General's office a few seconds after getting paged on the intercom attached to Landry's desk. Eli handed the 3 files to him.

"I think we should get set up in the briefing room. I'm sure the candidates will want to get started sooner, rather than later with this interview," the General said, easing the tension yet again.

The group walked up the spiral stairway from the Stargate Control Room.

"General," Eli asked to catch General Landry's attention, "Sir, with all do respect, why is the President and the IOA here?"

"You already know about the IOA?"  
"Yes, Sir. I found out about them when I did a search on Atlantis."

"Well done. They're here to interview you as well."

"Why do they wanta interview me, Sir?"

General Landry leaned over, as not to be heard by the government authorities in the Briefing Room.

"Not so much of an interview, as an observation," Landry said in a hushed tone.

The two made their way up the staircase, leaving Eli more nervous than before.

Several hours had passed since Thompson came to the briefing room, he had finished setting up all the things he needed for the interviews and had to use all his willpower just to keep from falling asleep.

Eli suddenly came back to the world of the awake when the Stargate suddenly activated, sending a large blast of blue from the inside of the ring. A wall of metal suddenly filled in the opening of the ring, starting from the outer-rim and ending at the center.

Thompson ran down to the Control Room and took a look at all the active equipment and technicians running around.

"Cool..." Thompson whispered to himself.

"Receiving Atlantis base IDC," a random technician called to Thompson.

"Uh, a what?" Thompson replied.

Landry suddenly came from the concrete steps to Eli's right, ready to give orders.

"Open the iris..." Landry said to the technician.

"Yes, Sir"

"Are you ready Colonel? Your candidates are all starting to come on through the gate, so soon too!" Landry said to Thompson.

"Yes, Sir, so soon..." Thompson said tiredly. The iris opened, revealing the blue event horizon again. After a few seconds, a woman walked through with two Marines.

"I take it that's Rachel Fisher, Sir?" Eli asked Landry.

"Right, just one of the 3 candidates however," Landry replied.

Thompson started to immediately regret picking 3 people.

The blue puddle in the gate grew very bright and then disappeared. The Major was led out one of the blast doors and into the hallway by the gate room.

The chevrons on the Stargate all glowed at once with a loud noise, like a door slamming, and a light blue burst of energy flew from the gate. Several other candidates had already arrived, some were already at the SGC, Major James Redford was already waiting with Rachel. Two bodies emerged from the gate right before it shut down, Doctor Carl Rite and a Marine. Carl was wearing a shirt with a patch similar to Thompson's SG-5 patch, except it had a 4 placed where the 5 was supposed to be. The Doctor was a bit thin, with a kind of excited look on his face.

"Doctor Carl Rite, Archaeologist," Landry said to Eli, "he's the last to arrive."

"Yes, Sir. Should we get started then?" Thompson replied.

"Might as well, the IOA is getting a little impatient," Landry said, looking almost concerned.

Thompson and Landry walked up the spiral steps yet again to the briefing room. Thompson sat down and Landry headed to his office where he, the President, and the IOA observed him through the tactical map, printed on the glass separating Landry's office from the Briefing Room, listening to the interviews via a microphone.

After a few seconds, Eli sat down and the Airman brought in the first candidate.

"And if you take a look at my file, you'll see that I've spent a year in the SGC, previous to my stationing at the Alpha Site," Doctor Rite pointed out to Thompson.

"Well, everything looks good, I'll definitely consider you," Eli replied, showing the Doctor out.

Thompson took a deep breath, 3 exhausting interviews in a row.

Eli turned to the airman at the door.

"Do you wanta change jobs with me?"

The Airman shakes his head frantically, definitely not wanting the job.

Eli sighs, "right."

Thompson, exhausted, walked into Landry's office and handed him the three files of the candidates he approved, and headed home.

Thompson had just come back with his team on their second mission, another reconnaissance mission of the plant life on M4S-912. It had been five days since he had approved these people to be on his team.

Thompson turned to look at his team, "great job, you guys!"

"The plant life of M4S-912 is always so fascinating, Sir," Major Redford said sarcastically to Eli. The two chuckled and the four made their way to their debriefing with Landry.

Landry greeted them with an urgent look on his face.

"Sir, everything OK?" Thompson asked.

"We have a problem SG-5. A minor Gould, who recently just come into some power, he's found a lab that the Alterans built to battle the Wraith from the Milky Way."

Eli didn't look too concerned about this, yet he was still ready to take action.

"What is he going to do with all of those weapons?" Rachel asked?

Landry's face looked grave. "He's going to amass an army, and come to take Earth..."

**To Be Continued...**


	2. Chapter 2

STARGATE ANDROMEDA

EPISODE: 102

THE RED-EYE NEBULA

**Written by, Lewis Green**

Lieutenant Colonel Eli Thompson stood in the gate room, waiting with his team, James, Rachel, and Carl, for the Stargate to be dialed, and for them to be on their way.

James turns to face the rest of the team.

"So...where are we going again?"

"Ancient Laboratory. Apparently, very dangerous in the hands of a blood thirsty Gould," Carl replied.

"Can't we just nuke the whole thing? I mean, why waste good men on a mission to a lab that's only going to cause trouble?" James replied.

"Because this is what we do, Major," Rachel interjected, almost annoyed by the complaints of James.

"Is it?" Eli asked.

"Yes, Colonel," Rite answered, his eyes rested on a Tablet computer.

The intercom clicked. This automatically made Eli and his team look to the Control Room.

General Hank Landry stood in full view of the team, holding down the button to activate the intercom.

"Alright, SG-5, SG-1 is currently off-world, securing a fleet of Jaffa Rebellion ships for whatever may happen. If you need ANY support, dial in, and call us up."

"Yes, Sir!" Eli responded.

"Dial it up, Walter," Landry said to a balding man in glasses, sitting right beside him.

Suddenly, the Stargate began to activate, its ring twisting around under the nine chevrons of the entire ring. Each chevron lighted up with a shade of orange light, until, KAWOOSH! The Stargate sat calmly, yet so lively, a blue puddle rippling in its opening.

"Alright, SG-5, let's roll-out!" Eli yelled, taking the Stargate at a run. His team followed.

Eli slammed into the event horizon, followed by James, then Rachel, then Carl.

The group was dematerialized and thrown across the galaxy through a wormhole.

WOOSH! Eli jumped out of the Stargate. As the rest of his team exited the gate, they were all greeted by a desert prairie. The sky was blue, yet streaked with red, they were inside of a nebula. The ruins of wooden buildings, forming one road, were spread across the landscape.

"Uh..." James said, looking around the deserted area. "Not exactly what came to mind when I heard, 'Ancient Laboratory'."

The Stargate closed.

Several hours passed, and the team found nothing. They gathered in front of the Stargate.

"Carl, Rachel, what did you find?" Eli asked.

"Nothing, just a bunch of piles of wood," Rachel replied.

"Same with us," James said. "Do you think we have the right planet?"

"I doubled checked the address to our database, this is the place," Carl said. "This is definitely the place."

"Then, where's the lab?" Eli asked, not really to anyone, only scanning the terrain.

"More importantly," Carl started, "where's our Gould?"

James sat himself down on the ground, joining Eli in looking over the deserted area. He fiddled with two rocks, he then began to juggle them. He missed one of the rocks, sending both to the ground. He reached for another.

"Maybe we should check in with the General," Eli suggested.

"You're the CO," Rachel replied.

James continued to play with a few of the rocks on the ground, obviously bored to tears.

"Just sucks that we don't get to shoot-up a few Goulds today," James says, pulling at a decent-sized rock.

When he pulls this rock, a loud screech filled the air. The team covered their ears as five large rings sprang up from the ground, surrounding them, and then engulfing them in a blast of light.

The team was beamed far, far underground.

A ring pad sat, embedded into the floor of the Ancient Laboratory. The platform suddenly sprang to life, firing up five rings, filling them with light, and spitting out the four members of SG-5.

Eli fell to the ground, and stumbled back up to his feet.

"What the HELL was that?!" Eli yelled, balancing himself on the wall behind the ring platform.

Carl took a deep breath, staring around the room, and then down at James.

"It looks like Major Redford's found our Laboratory," Carl said.

"Well, looks like I am a genius," James replied, hoisting himself to his feet.

Rachel moved her gaze from left to right, observing the dark room they were ringed into.

"Doctor Rite," Eli began, "where are we?"

"I'd say, we're in the Ancient Warfare Lab."

Eli slapped his palms together, rubbing them together.

"And it only took us five hours!"

Rachel, Eli, and James raised their P90s, their flashlights on, and pressed forward, surveying the room they were sent to.

Eli rounded a corner with Rachel.

"Clear!" Rachel called.

James rounded another corner.

"Clear!" James called.

The team regrouped in front of Carl. Carl looked at the rest of the team.

"Clear..." Carl said.

The team looked down the corner Rachel and Eli took, fining nothing but dust and unusable Alteran terminals and equipment.

The team then decided to take a look down the corner James took. They walked down a long, dark hallway. No lights came on, and it was cold enough to make the dead shiver. Eli, James, and Rachel shined their flashlights and pointed their P90s all about making sure to have the advantage if they were ever jumped by Gould forces.

James begins to hum the Twilight Zone theme song.

"That's really not helping, Major," Carl protested.

"I thought it would be fitting," James replied with a smile.

As the team walked the hall, a half-opened door revealed a shining object in another room to Eli. Eli stopped.

Rachel stops and turns to Eli.

"Colonel?"

"What's in there," Eli asked himself, staring into the room.

"Hang on," James said, walking over to the door.

James shoved his hands into the opening between the door and the doorstop, pushing it the rest of the way open.

James slapped his palm together, getting the dust off of them, and turned to Eli.

"There ya go, Sir."

Eli nodded and made his way into the room.

The room was filled with dim lights and large tubes full of alien liquid. Eli observed his reflection in one of the more larger test tubes.

"What is this place?" Carl asked.

"My guess? Biological warfare lab," Rachel added.

"I dunno, Rachel," James started, making faces out of his reflection in the tubes. "I was on the Atlantis Expedition for the better part of a year, and we never found anything to suggest that Ancients were using Biological-Warfare."

"Well, we never found anything to suggest that the Ancients thought about clogging up Sub-Space, so the Wraith couldn't travel Faster-Than-Light, until very recently," Rachel countered. "Who knows what the hell the Alterans've been doing?"

"They sure are squirrelly," Eli said, looking around at all the other tubes. "What d'you figure's in these things, Rite?"

"Oooooh," Rite began, "probably something... horrible..."

Rite began to pace the room, reading off of a Tablet computer.

"That's the spirit, Doc," James said, slightly downed.

Rite put down his Tablet and began to examine one of the tubes, watching bubbles fly up from the bottom to the top.

"What could this be?..." Rite asked himself.

James decided to make faces in the tubes.

On board the X-304 Odyssey, the third Starship and second Daedalus-Class Battle Cruiser to be built by the Taur'i, Colonel William Patton sat in the Captain's chair of the bridge as that very ship soared through Hyperspace.

The USS Odyssey was one Earth's Battle Cruisers and Deep Space Carriers.

The Sergeant on the right of Patton looked up from his terminal to speak to the Colonel.

"Sir, we're about to drop out of Hyperspace."

"Got it. Where are we anyway?" Patton asked, resting his cheek on his fist.

A burst of white light ripped Hyperspace away from Patton's sight, replacing it with a red Nebula.

Outside the ship laid a Middle-Stage Star and a Super-Earth.

Patton sat up from lying on his cheek.

"Is this it?"  
"Yes, Sir," the Sergeant to his right replied.

"Well, alright then."

Patton turned to the Sergeant on his left.

"Sergeant, get me Colonel Thompson."

"Yes, Sir," the Sergeant on Patton's left replied.

Inside of the Alteran Bio-Warfare Laboratory, Eli and the rest of SG-5 stared all around.

Suddenly, Eli's radio clicked and the voice of Colonel Patton rang through the room.

"Colonel Eli? Is this, Colonel Eli?"  
Eli lifted up his radio, confused by the abstract greeting.

"Uh... Yes?"

"Excellent, looks like we've found you. What've you found down there?"  
"Well," Eli began, "we first found a western-type village, looked like it came out of a Clint Eastwood movie. But, we found the Ancient lab underground."

"...Cool..." Patton said. "No Gould?"

Eli looked surprised, remembering that the whole reason they had come to the lab, was to stop a bloodthirsty Gould from taking up Ancient weapons, and enslaving the Galaxy.

"No..." Eli responded. "Just us chickens."

"Well, we'll watch the stars up here, tell you if we see something," Patton responded over the radio.

"Sounds good, next check-in, I guess... ten minutes?" Eli said.

"That'll be fine."

The radio clicked, ending the conversation.

Rite looked interested down at his Tablet computer, a cable connecting it and an Alteran terminal via a crystal adapter.

"What d'ya got, Doc?" Rachel asked.

Rite didn't respond, tapping his fingers on the computer's screen.

"Doc!" James yelled.

Rite shot back to reality, startled.

"Oh, oh, sorry," Rite said. "I think I've just found something."

"What?" Eli asked, walking towards Carl.

"I think I've just found what's in these tubes."

"Well, spill it, man!" James yelled.

"It's a Strain. A dangerous one at that," Rite said, gesturing at the tubes.

"How dangerous are we talkin', Doc?" Eli asked.

"Dangerous enough to concur a galaxy. I think we've just found what the Gould would be looking for," Rite said. Rite turned his head, looking all around the room. "If he was here that is."

In space, the Odyssey sat in orbit around the planet, sliding across the red streaks in the blackness of space.

Suddenly, a Hyperspace Window opened, spitting out three Ha'tak ship.

The Sergeant on the right of Patton springs to action.

"Sir, three Hat'aks have just dropped out of Hyperspace."

"Oh, crap," Patton said, pressing a button on his chair. "Eli, you need to speed this party up, we've got company."

"Understood, we're heading out now," Eli responded.

Patton watched several lights fly from the Hat'aks, Jaffa ringing down to the planet.

"Hurry..." Patton said.

SG-5 rushed for the ring-pad. The rings suddenly sprang to life.

"Mother!" James yelled, staring down five Jaffa.

The team bolted back, firing their guns on the Jaffa, killing them all.

"We need to hurry the hell up," Rachel said, typing out the directions on the Ring-Pad's control panel.

Before she could finish, the rings sprang back to life.

"Fall back," Eli yells.

More Jaffa materialized inside of the rings.

The team bolts back to the lab.

Patton gets out of his chair.

"Shields up! Get our Asgard Beams on line!"

"Sir," the Sergeant to the left of the Captain's chair responds.

"I don't want any of those Hat'aks surviving and telling their buddies who's here. Rip 'em to pieces."

"We've got a problem don here!" Eli yells over the radio. "Jaffa!"

Eli, Rachel, and James fire their P90s out the exit of the lab, hitting Jaffa left and right. Rite wrestles with his M9.

"Can you get to the rings, Eli?" Patton asks over the radio.

"Not a chance!" Eli yells over the gunfire. "They've got those things blocked off good!"

"OK, we'll beam you up in just a sec."

"Negative! We've got a dangerous Strain down here, if we leave it, they can infect the galaxy with whatever the hell this stuff is!" Eli yelled into his radio.

"Then stick some C4 on whatever's holding it," Patton replies over the radio.

"Roger!" Eli yells into his radio, pulling a pack of C4 from his vest and moving for the tables that hold the tubes.

Rachel and James ripped the packs of C4 from their vests, tossing them to Eli as the Jaffa fire on them.

A Gould grenade flies into the room from the outside.

James only laughed, picking up the gray ball, and throwing it back.

It exploded, firing out a blinding light and a deafening screech, forcing the Jaffa to their feet in pain.

"What now?!" James yelled at the enemy.

Eli stuck the tubes with the C4.

"Time to go," Eli said, turning to his team.

"Beam us up," Eli said over Patton's radio.

"Roger that," Patton responded, signaling the Sergeant to the left of the Captain's chair to do so.

The Sergeant nodded and began typing.

"I have their beacons, beaming now."

SG-5 burst into several beams of light, beaming off to the Odyssey.

SG-5 reappeared on the bridge.

"Thanks," Eli said.

"No problem," Patton said, seating himself down in the Captain's chair. "Where the hell are my Asgard beams, Sergeant?"  
The Sergeant to Patton's right responded. "I don't know, Sir, they're not going on line."

"Perfect," Patton responded, annoyed.

Several yellow lights assaulted the Odyssey's shields, coming from the Hat'ak ships.

The Jaffa walk into the Alteran lab, pointing their staff weapons every which way, trying to find their enemy.

One approaches the tubes, seeing the C4.

"Jaffa!" he yells. "Sha-"

The Jaffa is cut-off as the C4 explodes, incinerating him and blowing the rest of his group off of their feet.

They assault on the shields ended.

"They're launching Death Gliders!" the Sergeant to Patton's left announced.

"Call all pilots to the 302 Bay, get those birds in the air!" Patton responded.

Eli handed one of the Sergeant's his P90, running off of the bridge.

"Where the hell do you think you're going, Eli?" Patton asked.

"Before I was a 302 pilot, I flew the Raptor, I know my way around a plane."

Patton sighs. "Go then!"

Inside of the 302 bay, pilots ran left and right, running up metal steps to F-302s.

Eli ran into the Hangar Bay and up the steps of a nearby 302, no flight-gear on.

He sat himself down in the cockpit of the fighter, flipping up switches, activating the fighter's systems.

The canopy slid back as the Hangar Bay's doors lifted, revealing the blackness of space, and several gray and gold dots coming to kill them. The shield sealing the Hangar Bay rippled.

Eli rolled his fighter onto the strip of the Bay. He thrust the throttle forward, sending his fighter up into the air, through the shield, into space, and out of the Odyssey's shields.

Rachel, James, and Eli watched the fighters fly from the ship.

"What d'you figure the chances are of the Colonel dying out there?" James asked.

"I have no idea..." Rachel replies. "You worried?"

James laughs. "No, I only ask because if he dies, I takeover the team."

Eli watches the Gliders approach.

Voices came over the terminal's radio, other pilots checking in. It soon came for him to check in.

"Ripper 3, checking in," he said into his radio.

The Gliders and 302s rushed at each other at great speed, firing on each other. The Gliders fired their staff weapons, the 302s their KEW rifles.

Some Gliders were shot down, other only flew in between the squad of 302s.

The Jaffa that were scorched by the flames only lay on the ground, dead or dying.

One Jaffa survived however.

Holding his ribs, this Jaffa made his way to the tubes, not shattered. He reached his hand out, touching the liquid dripping out of the vile. He then made his way to the ring-pad.

He ringed off to the surface.

The Jaffa collapsed on the dusty ground of the now very-used-ring-pad.

He lifted a small communicator out of his armor, pressing down a button.

"I... I need help, please..."

A voice came over the communicator, the Gould. "Have you procured the substance that I seek?"

"No, the Taur'i, they've destroyed it with their weapons," the Jaffa gasped out, holding his bleeding wound.

"Then you have failed your God."

"My Lord, I."

"Die, it will suffice as punishment for this atrocity."

The Jaffa threw the communicator aside, enraged. He yelled.

Suddenly, lines of blood began to descend from his eyes.

He placed his hand on his cheek, catching the lines of blood. He looked confused at the blood, getting up to keep it from pooling in his eye sockets.

"What is this?" he asked himself.

The Jaffa rose to his feet, typing out an address on the dialing device of the Stargate.

The Stargate spat out a burst of energy and sucked it back in, steadying to a simple pool of blue light.

"Sir," a Sergeant said from behind the captain's chair, from one of the terminals lining the walls of the bridge, "the Stargate's just activated."

"Is it incoming, or outgoing?" Patton asked.

"We're not receiving any signals from the SGC, it's a safe bet that it's outgoing."

Patton is concerned, turning to face Rite.

"What're the chances of anyone surviving the blast you guys made with the C4?"

"Slim, but not impossible," Rite replied.

"Sergeant!" Patton yelled, turning to the Sergeant on the left of the Captain's chair. "Fire up all rail guns and missile launchers. We need to destroy that gate!"  
"Yes, Sir."

"Why," Rite asked.

"Because if it's one of the Jaffa from down there, it's a good guess that they've come in contact with whatever the Strain is that you found down there. If he carries it through the gate, he'll infect the galaxy." Patton replied, seating himself down in the Captain's chair of the ship.

The Jaffa prepared to step through the gate as a load roar came from the sky. The Jaffa looked up to see several rail gun rounds and missiles flying directly at him, firing blazing all around them.

A line of blood was already leaking from his ears.

The Jaffa jumped through the gate just as it was hit and buried by the dust and rubble created by the rail gun round and missiles.

"Confirmed hit," the Sergeant says to Patton.

"Alright, call back all the fighters and Jump us home," Patton replied.

"Yes, Sir."

Eli pulled his fighter back to the ship after hearing the callback.

His fighter shakes lightly as he passes through the Hangar's shield and hits the landing strip with the legs of his landing gear.

He immediately turns his fighter to its spot on the side of the Bay's wall, cooling his engines and rocket motor, as the rest of the 302s come in for landings.

"We have our 302s!" the Sergeant announced.

"Alright, take us to Hyperspace," Patton ordered.

The Odyssey jumped to Hyperspace, leaving the Hat'aks behind.

At the SGC, everything was calm. It was fourteen hours after the team had arrived at the SGC.

Eli walked to his quarters, but was stopped by General Landry.

"Colonel," Landry began, stopping Eli in his tracks. "Mission accomplished I suppose?"

"Seems like it, General," Eli said. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Unfortunately, Colonel, this isn't pleasure. We have a situation," Landry said, hands in the pockets of his jacket, his slightly down as he circles around Eli.

"What's that, Sir?"

"The strain you found. We think it may have gotten through to another world."

"Which one?"

"P3B-993, a simple planet, not much. But they've been showing some strange symptoms over the past few hours."

"Like what?"

"First, they bleed from their eye sockets, not long after that, they bleed from their ears. Then their nose, then they spit and cough out blood. After that..."

"What?" Eli asked, looking very concerned at this point.

"A slight, pop comes from their ears, and they die."

"Have we figured out the details of what's actually causing this?"

"You said that Stargate activated after you left the planet's surface."

"But we buried it."

"There's no saying what got through. All I'm saying is, a strange strain shows up just hours after you find an Alteran strain. I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that it's the same one."

Eli leaned on the wall, shocked, mouth hanging open.

"What do we do?" Eli asked.

"Whatever we can. Unfortunately, the people of P3B-993 already migrated off of their planet before telling us, so now the strain could be anywhere. We need to go to P3B, and find out more."

"Isn't this a job for SG-1?"

"I figure since you and your team were the ones who found the strain first, you maybe of great use. As for SG-1, they'll be coming along as well."

Eli is shocked again.

"Th, they're coming too?" Eli stuttered.

"That's right, Colonel." Landry slapped Eli on the shoulder. "Gather your team, suit up, and go to the gate room, double time!"

Landry walked off smiling, leaving Eli bewildered.

Eli sighed and began to make his way off to find his team, then to the armory, then to go to the gate room to finally meet the people he had come to idolize since he had come back from his first ever mission off-world.

**To Be Continued...**


	3. Chapter 3

PLEASE PARDON THE POOR QUALITY, SEVERAL ERRORS WITH UPLOADING. WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN :)

**STARGATE ANDROMEDA**

**EPISODE: 103**

**THE FIFTH PLAGUE**

Written by, Lewis Green

A set of misty mountains sat still on the planet P3B-993, silent as the grave. The sun lightly grazed over their tall peaks. The mist made everything between the mountains unclear, a mystery.  
With a mighty roar, two F-302s burst out of a thin lair of clouds and began to do a flyby of the area. They flew with their stomachs facing the peaks.  
Inside the lead fighter plane, a woman sat, watching the dead mountains. She gazed down at a small screen on the fighter's large console. The screen watched the mist, seeing what the naked eye could not. A plastic air mask and a large black lens were held to her head by a helmet.  
"Odyssey, Ripper 1. We have no life signs, repeat, no life signs," the woman said.  
Odyssey to Ripper 1, one of the Odyssey's crewman responded. Understood. We'll forward the word to Stargate Command. Head on home.  
"Roger that, Odyssey. Ripper 1, out." The two F-302s pointed their noses to the thin lair of clouds and began to speed up to the atmosphere, their mission completed.

Five hours after the SGC had received the word from the USS Odyssey, the Stargate activated, firing a blast of energy from its opening. After a few moments, a Mobile Analytic Laboratory Probe (M.A.L.P.) exited the blue event horizon.  
Its camera slowly scanned over the dark, misty area with its built-in flashlight until it had seen all it had come to see. After a few moments, it lowered its camera and sat still.  
Just as its camera slumped down, nine figures exited the Stargate, one at a time. Each held P90s, flashlights blazing, pointing them allover. The figures wore red suits, helping to keep the outside environment out.  
"Looks like we're all clear," James said, standing beside the Dial Home Device (D.H.D.)  
Another one of the figures pressed a button on the bottom of his suit's helmet.  
"General Hammond," the voice of Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell began, "we've made contact with the other side. Looks like we were right, the air is VERY poisonous."

"Poisonous with what though?" Doctor Daniel Jackson said, flashing his P90's flashlight around to get a better look at his surroundings.  
"I'm guessing the strainy...thing," Vala Mal Doran replied sarcastically, sitting on the steps that led down from the blue light of the Stargate.  
Thank you, Colonel, General Hammond's voice responded over Mitchell's radio. Proceed. Next check-in is in five hours.

"Roger that, Sir," Mitchell replied, "out."

With a roar, the blue event horizon of the Stargate disappeared, leaving only the dark mist and the nine flashlights to find their own way.  
A figure rose his hand up and presses a button on the chin of his helmet, shining several blue lights on his face from inside his helmet. The lights illuminated the face of Lieutenant Colonel Eli Thompson.  
"Wow," Eli said, turning his head to see the misty architecture and surroundings. "Very...misty..." Carl strutted around the rocky ground, holding a hand-held device used to detect surroundings.  
"Yep, this is definitely poisoned atmosphere," Carl said.  
Sam used the same device.  
"I've got the same, Doctor," Sam replied, looking up from her device.  
"Maybe we should take a look at the surrounding area," Daniel interjected, looking down a distant stone trail.  
Teal'c proceeds wordlessly down the stone walkway.  
"Hang on there, big guy," Mitchell interrupted. "I think we should split up into teams. Colonel Thompson, you and I'll go together. Sam, you're with...uh..." Mitchell trails off, looking at Rachel.  
"Major Fisher, sir," Rachel added.  
"Right, sorry. Sam, you and Fisher'll go together," Mitchell continued.  
From there, the two teams broke up into four teams with Teal'c agreeing to stay back and watch the gate. Mitchell and Eli, Sam and Rachel, Daniel and Carl, James and Vala, who put forth no protest when she saw her partner.  
After deliberation, the group set off to scan the area, trying to find survivors and understand just what this strain did to the indigenous people.

Three hours later, Mitchell and Eli walked through a long, twisting, cobblestone walkway, surrounded by stone buildings. The mist had disappeared by then, leaving a beautiful blue sky. The sky would deceive you however, because nestled in between the buildings on either side of the roads, were an assortment of corpses, lying on the ground, cold as the grave.  
Mitchell turned his head to look around at all the deceased aliens.  
"What a mess..." "You said it," Eli replied.  
Mitchell bent over to examine a body even closer.  
Far off in the distance, Vala and James walked a similar road, observing the dead. Vala grimaces at every each dead body, not out of fear, but the fear that she may have to touch one of the disgusting things.  
Further off than that, Sam and Rachel stand on a large stone balcony overlooking an enchanting lake. The two examine the lake, watching the bodies as well.  
On a distant rooftop, Daniel and Carl examine one body. The body's head is slammed on the edge of the roof, its nose broken, a gaping, dry gash on the side of its face.  
"Interesting..." Carl mutters as Daniel pulls the body's face off of the pavement roof's edge.  
Daniel lets the body fall the short distance to the floor of the roof. Carl bends over and lightly strokes his gloved hand over the head's dry gash.  
"Shouldn't there be...you know, blood?" Daniel asked.  
"Yeah," Carl said, still examining the face of the dead body. Carl lifted up his gloved hand to his helmet, looking at a dry, flaky material on his fingertips.  
Daniel gazed at the material sitting on Carl's fingers.  
"What is that?"

"No idea... Hey, how long has it been since the strain hit this world?"

"Uh..." Daniel looks up at the sky. "It hit about...ten, maybe fifteen hours ago." Carl begins to pull the dead body's shirt off.  
"What are you doing?"

"When a body ceases to live, the heart stops pumping blood through the body, so the blood stops moving through the arteries, veins, and capillaries."

"Okay...so why does that matter?"

"Because," Carl said, showing the bare chest of the man to Daniel, "when that happens, the blood pools at the lowest part of the body because of gravity. So where's his pool of blood?" Daniel bent down to see the body closer.  
"Now that you mention it..."

Far off in the misty valleys of the mountains, Teal'c stood guard in front of the Stargate, simply watching.  
Immediately, the chevrons around the Stargate began to glow.  
Teal'c lifted his radio to his lips.  
"Colonel Mitchell, the Stargate is activating," he said, watching the chevrons light up.  
What? Mitchell asked over the radio. It's too soon to be the SGC.  
"Indeed it is!" Teal'c replied setting down the radio and pointing his P90 at the opening gate.  
We can't let anyone through, they'll just die, Sam said over the radio.  
Two bodies step through the gate. After a few moments of staring at Teal'c, they began to writhe and scream, falling to the ground.  
Teal'c tried to make his way to the people in need, but by the time he reached them, it was too late.  
Eli and Mitchell stood in the stone walkway.  
It is too late, they are dead... Teal'c said over the radio.  
Mitchell swore loudly, looking around at the other dead bodies lying on the ground all around him. All Eli could do was stand and watch.  
On the rooftop, Daniel and Carl continued to examine the body. Carl held a knife in his hand, Daniel had the body's arm pinned down.  
"You got it?" Carl asked.  
"Yeah, but why do I have to hold his arm down?"

"Because if I cut wrong, I could end up making a BIG mess."

"I'm not too fond of blood..."

"Neither am I, so just keep our buddy hear still."

"Right."

Carl begins to slice vertically into the body's left forearm, from its wrist to where it meets its elbow. Carl then made two cuts on each end of the first incision, making two T's on each end. To Daniel's distaste, Carl pulled the two flaps of flesh apart, revealing bones, muscles, and set of black veins and arteries.  
"That's weird..." Carl said to himself.  
"What?"

"One sec..." Carl put his knife to one of the veins, beginning to cut into it.  
"What happened to not making a mess?" Daniel asked.  
The vein split, but did not shoot out blood. Instead, a black, crusty substance slowly dropped out of the split vein.  
"He's got no blood," Daniel said, observing the strange phenomenon.  
Carl begins to cut up further on the body's arm. He follows the same procedure he did before, only to find the same result. The two then placed the body on its back, beginning to perform the procedure on the man's chest, revealing the ribcage.  
"Okay, Doctor, I'm gonna need your help here," Carl said, looking down at the ribcage.  
"Please don't say it..." Carl pulled a small hammer from Daniel's bag. Carl then placed the tip of the knife on the center of the ribcage.  
"Go ahead."

"Please no..."

"Doctor, we need to know for sure." Daniel sighed, accepting his fate, and rose the hammer, and swung it down lightly to the handle of the knife. A crack went up the sternum of the ribcage. Daniel began to look very squeamish.  
"Again," Carl said, only watching the ribcage.  
Daniel repeated is act, only creating another crack.  
"Again."

Again.  
"Again."

Still only a crack.  
"Again."

SNAP!  
The ribcage burst open and Daniel leaned over to the side to vomit.  
Sam and Rachel continued to walk around the balcony.  
"What's wrong?" Rachel asked.  
"This was a heavily nomadic world, trading of all sorts went on here."

"Sure did," Rachel replied, looking around at all the bodies.  
"But, the word of the strain couldn't pass around that quickly. Which means that the last ones that just came through the gate, will more than likely not be the last."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean more and more will come, walking directly into death, and they won't even be able to go back and warn the others; not without infecting them anyway."

"Well, what can we do to stop that,■ Rachel replied.

Mitchell and Eli stood in the same street, the star above them barreling down its heat onto their rubber suits.  
"You want to what?" Mitchell asked.  
I want to block all addresses to here and the other planets that we've been able to catch before hand, Sam said over Mitchell's radio, except for Earth. That way, we can keep the infected in a controlled environment, and we can keep the strain from spreading.  
"Is that even possible, Sam?" Mitchell asked.  
It's what the Alterans did with the Atlantis gate.  
"Fine. Let's contact the SGC and get this done," Mitchell replied.  
Uh, Colonels? Carl's voice asked over the radio. We need you to come over here immediately. We've got something to show you.

An hour later, the two teams were beginning to congregate on the rooftop with the mutilated body.  
"Holy man!!!" Mitchell yelled upon seeing the body. "What the hell did you do to this guy?!!!"

"It was necessary," Carl said. "We saw that he wasn't bleeding at all, we decided to investigate."

"What's the WE stuff?" Daniel asked.  
"Whatever," Carl said. "The point is, his blood has clogged up completely, his heart is just a glob of dried blood."

"Weird," Sam said.  
"Seriously," Rachel added.  
James and Vala finally arrived.  
"Where have you two been?" Mitchell asked.  
"Do you know how long those paths are?" Vala asked back. "They aren't exactly a fun little jog."

"She's not kidding, Colonel," James replied. James took a look at the mutilated body. "Did I miss something fun?"

"The doctors were just telling us a story about the man with crusty dried blood," Eli replied.  
"Ew," James said.  
"The point is," Carl said, "We know what this strain does to people. It solidifies the plasma in their blood, cutting off the energy, oxygen, and nutrient flow."

"Great, now how do we stop it?" Mitchell asked.  
"...I don't know," Carl replied.  
"Yet!" Daniel added, getting up.  
Vala helped to hoist Daniel to his feet.  
"You weigh a ton, you know?" Vala whispered to Daniel.  
"If we take this back to the SGC," Carl began, "we could-"

"Got it," Mitchell said, "things'll be fine and dandy. Let's go then."

The group began to flood off of the roof.

Within the hour, SG's 1 and 5 were back at the SGC, cleansed and walking around casually.  
Inside of a laboratory, Carl and Sam stood behind a screen, watching a microscopic closeup of a sample of the strain.  
"What do you make of it?" Sam asked.  
"It's the strangest thing I've ever seen..." Eli walked into the lab, looking around at all the gizmos and gadgets at work.  
"Carl, Colonel," he said.  
"Colonel," Sam replied.  
"Hey there, Eli," Carl replied.  
"So," Eli began, standing between the two, staring up at the screen, "what's on the tube?"

"A very strange organism. It's a mystery to me," Carl began.  
"Ah, I never liked mystery shows," Eli responded.  
"We did find something interesting though," Sam began.  
"Really?"

"Yep," Sam began, "this strain has no DNA, RNA, proteins, or amino acids."

"...I have...no idea...what you just said," Eli said.  
Sam smiled at the O'Neil-ish Colonel, "it means that this thing can change matter into energy, and energy...well, you know." Eli looked into the screen.  
"I see...weird."

"Very weird," Carl said.  
Suddenly, a piercing ring and red lights began to fill the SGC.  
Unauthorized, incoming wormhole! a voice said over the complex' intercom.  
"That's us," Sam said, leading Eli out of the lab.  
"Get this figured out," Eli said to Carl on his way out.  
"Will do!" Carl yelled to the Colonel who was already down the hall.  
In the Gate Control Room, Sergeants ran here and there, trying to assemble key personnel.  
Eli and Sam entered to meet General Landry.  
"There you are," Landry said to the two. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming."

"What's going on?" Sam asked.  
"We were just about to figure that out," Landry responded. Landry then pressed down a button on one of the computer's in front of him and spoke into a microphone. "Major Marks, why are you dialing in?"

Sir, the voice of Major Marks came through, we're on one of the planets that was set to be quarantined.  
"Yes?" Landry said.  
Well, sir, from my understanding, this strain is supposed to make people dead, right?  
"That's right," Sam responded.  
Well.  
Hundreds of light years away, Major Marks and his team stood in front of an active Stargate, their P90s were raised. They aimed their weapons, at a large group of confused people standing in front of them.  
Major Marks looked just as confused.  
"I think we've just broken that theory..."

To Be Continued...


End file.
